minnesota... who knew?

Long long (over a month) ago, my little family met up in Minnesota with my big family to celebrate my brother's wedding. Minnesota? Yep, Minnesota.

I only knew a few things about the place:

1) After almost 20 years in New York, my brother and his (now) wife (who is from Minnesota) live there.

2) The rest of the stuff I know is based on movies and stereo-types so it doesn't really count.

Turns out, there is a lot to love about the good ol' Land of Ten Thousand Lakes (I learned that nickname when I got there so I couldn't count it on my list of things that I already knew).

We had so much fun staying at my brother's house. There is so much that we will remember.

The hill:

How long can Samuel play with a big stick before Eva gets hurt? In his defense, it wasn't on purpose. But the unfortunate and inevitable answer is usually about two minutes.

I did get a record of them getting along. I love it how they play.

The hammock:

If you could hear a thunk, thunk, thunk, it was Eva and Samuel pushing each other on the hammock. And slamming each other into the house. And laughing really hard.

The lake:

His back yard felt like a vacation in and of itself.

I didn't get a better picture of Eva and her cousin in their unplanned-but-couldn't-have-planned- it-better-if-we-tried coordinating outfits but it cracked me up.

You remember when you were in second grade and you thought you were so cool when you could spell Mississippi so fast? This is the first time I think I have been able to use such the practical skill.

We walked across the Mississippi river. It was a neat walk with a view of a bunch of cool buildings. And if I was good at remembering stuff like that I would tell you what they were. But, well, unless I ate there, I probably can't remember it.

You can tell which one is my brother because we both hold our smart phones the same.

Don't you think Karl and Samuel look a little homeless here?

Thanks to Food Network, I did know what a Juicy Lucy (or Jucy Lucy) was. So, I was so excited to find out that MN was the home of the melty feast and that we were going to indulge. There are two places that claim to have invented the cheese stuffed burger. We ended up at the 5-8 Club. We tried all three versions of the Juicy Lucy and the blue cheese was my favorite. The burgers had some equally tasty friends... deep fried cheese curds, extreme Jojos (pototo wedges, chili, cheese), and french fries. And we ate them all.

The next morning we went for a giant walk around another one of the ten thousand lakes. Turns out, we walked 5 miles. Samuel ran about 2 of them. He just took off like Forrest Gump. My brother's friend, the only one of us that is relatively fit, had to chase after him. The thing is, once he caught up to him, he couldn't stop him. Samuel just kept going.

So this is the pattern. Go on a walk, then eat a ridiculously high calorie/ high fat/ tasty meal. After we went on that 5 mile walk we hit the state fair. Remember that post? If you don't, your stomach might.